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Emmylou Harris, The ‘70s Studio Album Collection / The ‘80s Studio Album Collection: Technically speaking, we only have two releases being added to our digital catalog this week, but when you consider that one of those is a set that includes six albums and the other is a collection that includes eight albums…well, frankly, isn’t two releases enough?

Emmylou Harris didn’t start her career on Reprise Records – which, sadly, is one of the reasons why her initial studio effort, 1969’s Gliding Bird, isn’t a part of The ‘70s Studio Album Collection (the other reason being that it, uh, didn’t actually come out in the ‘70s) – but she might as well have, given the amount of artistic growth that Harris experienced between that album and her Reprise debut, Pieces of the Sky, in 1975. Unfortunately, it was also during that window that she met, collaborated with, and subsequently said goodbye to Gram Parsons, but the amount of confidence she developed during those years was tremendous, and you can hear it throughout the grooves of that album.

Today’s Digital Roundup consists of a trio of soundtracks – one from the ‘60s, two from the ‘70s – by two masters of movie music, and since both guys are pretty great in their own right, we’ll do things the only fair way and start off alphabetically.

Lalo Schifrin, Boulevard Nights – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: The first of two efforts by the great Lalo Schifrin, a man who secured street cred with jazz fans in the ‘50s and ‘60s by working with guys like Dizzy Gillespie and Xavier Cugat but earned pop culture immortality in 1966 by writing the theme to Mission: Impossible. Boulevard Nights isn’t necessarily Schifrin’s most well-known film score, and if we’re to be completely honest, it isn’t one of his best, either, but it’s very much an artifact of its time, which is to say that if you were shaking your groove thing to the dying gasps of disco and spent a fair amount of your time getting the funk out, then you’ll probably dig it. (It also helps if you like George Benson, who takes lead vocals on the first track, “Street Tattoo.”)

Slipknot, The Studio Album Collection 1999-2008: For most of the time between 2008 and 2014, it would’ve been considered a sucker’s bet to expect the band Slipknot to regroup for the long haul, let alone return to the studio. Not that it hadn’t been discussed here and there, but in the wake of bassist Paul Gray’s death in 2010, the band’s solidity wasn’t exactly at its highest ebb, and given the departure of drummer Joey Jordison from their ranks last year, it was beginning to seem as though the likelihood of the band completing the long-threatened new album was grim at best.

Sister Sledge, The Studio Album Collection: 1975 – 1985: You know them for their hit singles, of course, but beyond “We Are Family,” “He’s the Greatest Dancer,” and the like, Sister Sledge had some solid album tracks as well, and now’s your chance to get into the grooves of all eight of the group’s efforts between ’75 and ’85. To list ‘em off, that means you’ll be getting Circle of Live (1975), Together (1977), We Are Family (1979), Love Somebody Today (1980), All American Girls (1981), The Sisters (1982), Bet Cha Say That to All the Girls (1983), and When the Boys Meet the Girls (1985). That’s a whole lot of dance floor goodness, but it also gives you an idea of how the sound of the Sledge sisters evolved over the course of their greatest commercial successes.

Gary Wright, The Very Best of Gary Wright / The WB Years: 1975-1981: Well, as it happens, we’ve only got two new additions to the digital catalog this week, and they’re both by Gary Wright, so let’s tackle The Very Best of Gary Wright first, shall we? Regrettably, it’s not the same collection as 1998’s Best of Gary Wright: The Dream Weaver, which is currently out of print, but it’s still a solid sampling of Wright’s tenure on Warner Brothers, kicking off with four selections from the first – and unquestionably the most famous – album during his stint with the label, The Dream Weaver.

Amon Düül II, Hijack/Made in Germany: One of the seminal bands of the so-called Krautrock movement of the ‘70s, Amon Düül II never made much of an impact in the States, but at least with Hijack there’s a good excuse: it’s not all that great an album. Still, it does open with a pretty great number (“I Can’t Wait, Pts. 1 & 2”), close with one that’s somewhat silly but still highly entertaining (“Argy the Robot”) and somewhere between the two there’s a enjoyable unique cover of Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman.” If you’re only going to get one of these two additions to our digital catalog, though, you’ll almost certainly want Made in Germany, one of the best albums of Amon Düül II’s career. You still might not be able to get into it, but if you can’t, then at least you’ll know definitively that Amon Düül II may not be your cup of tea, because it’s unequivocally one of their best.

Mick Jones, Mick Jones: When it comes to solo efforts from the members of Foreigner, most people know that Lou Gramm found a bit of success under his own name, thanks to singles like “Midnight Blue” and “Just Between You and Me,” but during the window between Gramm’s last album with the band (1987’s Inside Information) and their first album without him (1991’s Unusual Heat, which featured Johnny Edwards fronting the band), Mick Jones released his self-titled debut. It remains his only solo album to date – possibly because it wasn’t a tremendous commercial success, but not definitely, as it may simply have been because he’s maintained his day job as a member of Foreigner all along – and if you’re a fan of Jones’s band’s glossier and more pop-oriented material, then you’ll likely still enjoy it. In addition to the album’s first single, “Just Wanna Hold,” a co-write with Ian Hunter and possibly Mick Jagger (it’s long been suggested that the other co-writer, listed as M. Phillips, is actually Jagger), there’s a lot of other talent involved in the album, too, including vocal assistance from Billy Joel, Carly Simon, Ian Lloyd of Stories (you know, the guys who did “Brother Louie”), and Joe Lynn Turner, who was probably just beginning his brief stint as lead singer of Deep Purple right around then. Oh, and just in case that “pop-oriented” comment scared you, be sure you don’t miss “Wrong Side of the Law,” a guitar-heavy, blues-tinged rocker which really should’ve been huge on album-rock radio.

The B-52’s, The Video Album: You’ve gotten your groove on to the music, but now’s your chance to dance this mess around while watching the videos! There are 15 videos included on this compilation, and since we know you’re wondering what they are, we won’t force you to wait another minute: you’ll get “Rock Lobster,” “Song for a Future Generation,” “Legal Tender,” “Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland,” “Channel Z,” “Love Shack,” “Cosmic Thing,” “Roam,” “Deadbeat Club,” “Good Stuff,” “Tell It Like It T-I-IS,” “Is That You, Mo-Dean?”, “Hot Pants Explosion,” “Revolution Earth,” and “Debbie.” It’s a full-on party in convenient video form!

Rick James, “This Magic Moment / Dance with Me”: Depending on how long your memory may be, it’s not impossible that you might remember this track from Warner Brothers’ 1989 compilation, Rock, Rhythm & Blues, which also featured covers by Elton John, Michael McDonald, Chaka Chan, Howard Hewett, Manhattan Transfer, Randy Travis, the Pointer Sisters, Christine McVie and Friends, and El Debarge. Why did this track get a single release? Say, you don’t think maybe it’s to continue with the Rick James revival we tried to start a few weeks ago by issuing his Kickin’ album at long last, do you? Yeah, that’s the ticket!

We’ve only got two artists to tackle in this week’s Digital Roundup, and one of them has nine – count ‘em – nine titles being added to our digital catalog, so before we dive into discussing those efforts, let’s talk about the lone addition from the other artist first, just to make sure it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

Savatage, Fight for the Rock: It may not be the reason why it’s taken this particular entry from the band’s back catalog to make into our digital catalog, but the members of Savatage have referred to this, their third album, as Fight for the Nightmare, with lead singer John Oliva declaring outright on the band’s website, “I’ve never really been fond of that album,” only to quickly upgrade his statement to state, “We’ve never fond of that album.” It’s not hard to see why: between the album’s artwork, which found the band echoing the pose of the soldiers raising the flag on Iwo Jima, the unlikely inclusion of cover versions of Badfinger’s “Day After Day” and Free’s “Wishing Well,” the placement of a lyrically-unnecessary parental-advisory sticker on the front cover to make metal fans think there might be something outrageous contained therein, and, of course, a title track prominently featuring the word “rock,” the whole affair was clearly Atlantic Records’ attempt to break Savatage into the mainstream. Did it work? Well, the album made it onto the Billboard Top 200, if only at #158, but it was their subsequent album, Hall of the Mountain King, that proved to be the bigger seller, and it did so while delivering a collection which was far more in line with the real Savatage. Still, if you’re a fan of the band, you really need to hear Fight for the Rock, if only to confirm that rocking properly is something that’s worth a fight with your label.

Okay, now that we’ve given Fight for the Rock a fair shake, it’s on to the substantial number of additions to our catalog from our other artist of the week.

Chic & Aristofreeks, Le Freak Remixes EP: Who or what is Aristofreeks? Well, to quote directly from their SoundCloud profile, “Aristofreeks is the name of the funky beast that comprises DMC mixing championship finalist Max Martire and the internationally renowned musical chameleon Lenny Ibizarre.” If you’re questioning if these upstarts have got the goods to remix such a classic song, then you’ll be interested to learn that they’re contributing to a new single, “Everybody Get On Up,” by Next Step, a group consisting of former Chic singers Norma-Jean Wright, Luci Martin, Alfa Anderson and featuring Kathy Sledge of Sister Sledge. Hello, instant dance-floor credibility!

Various Artists, Woodstock – Music from the Original Soundtrack and More / Woodstock 2: Just in time to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the musical festival to end all music festivals – or, at the very least, the one to inspire more people than any other to claim they were there whether they actually were or not – both the original soundtrack (and more) from the original film and its sequel have been added to our digital catalog.